Crazy, Stupid, Love

Men will watch "Crazy, Stupid, Love" thinking they're finding out things about women, but if anything, this movie works the other way. Women will get a glimpse into the male mind.

So we have a newly separated man, whose wife has cheated on him, getting lessons in how to attract women, a plot element predicated on an almost universally held male belief that there are surefire secrets to be learned in this area. It's not simply a matter of chance, that there are some guys that women just like. No, it's a matter of learning how to dress and what to say. And when it's Steve Carell doing the learning and Ryan Gosling doing the teaching, there is the basis here for good comedy.

"Crazy, Stupid, Love" aspires to be more than funny, too, to mix laughs with serious observation, with scenes showing the wronged husband coming into his authority and the local lothario (Gosling) discovering his heart. There the results are mixed. The movie's almost two-hour running time makes it almost as long as a Judd Apatow entry, without the same degree of insight or force. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" doesn't quite feel all of a piece, and there are awkward places in the plotting, particularly near the finish.

Yet it remains entertaining and, more than that, involving, in the sense that we never doubt or lose interest in the central situation - that of a middle-aged man (Carell) forced to reassess himself and his world. Carell carries the comedy, while remaining grounded in the pain of the character, and so we care. It's also astonishing what good clothes and a haircut can do for a guy. There's a lesson in that for all of us.

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and written by Dan Fogelman, "Crazy, Stupid, Love" subscribes to a very male notion that if your wife leaves you, the best way to get her respect is to have sex with nine women in quick succession. Being male myself, I would not necessarily argue with that idea - though equating romantic success with personal value means placing so much pressure on oneself that failure is almost guaranteed.

Julianne Moore, as the estranged wife, does her best to be sympathetic, though it's hard to forgive her. Marisa Tomei has more fun in a featured role as a one-night stand. In a parallel story, the movie follows a newly minted lawyer, played by Emma Stone, a young actress I'm starting to worry about. Every publication these days is proclaiming her stardom before it's happened, and that's the recipe for a Julia Ormond-like fall. Yet based on her confidence, her comic timing, her idiosyncratic good looks and manner, she deserves the career everyone is predicting.